National Republican., 1887-07-30
SPECIAL TRAINS.
Mrs. Cleveland's Reported Dislike for
Them.
lRnilrnnd Gnzette

Railroad Gazette
Mrs. Cleveland is reported as dislikiug
special trains of all sorts, fatal accident
having occurred to one In which the presi-
Dental party was travelling on the Rome,
Watertown and Ogdensburg last week. One
of the parallel rods of the engine broke,
killing the enGireman, and tearing hole
In the boiler so that the fireman found 1t
extremely risky business to shut OF steam.
While the accident probably was notin the
slightest degree due to the fact that the
train was an irregular one, Mrs. Cleveland
doubtless, in the excitement OF the mo-
ment, spoke her honest conviction, and
thereby justified the general reputation she
has Of being decidedly level headed. For,
in truth, special trains are handicapped by
pronounced disadvantages, and many OIL
GERS have come to regard them In the ma
ture Of necessary evils, and to be avoided
when possible. The fact that both the men
on the train ana others whose duties are
affected by IT are working outside
Of their habitual round is well uudestood,
and has been heretofore referred to In these
columns. But prominent cause Of discom-
fort In such trains frequently is the exces.
sive speed, and II may be reasonably con.
jectured that this, with It's attendant ex.
citement, more or less mild, among both
passengers and trainmen, is one OF the con-
we have quoted. BY excessive speed We
do not mean an unsafe rate, but one that ia
too high for comfort. When the Jarrett 81
Palmer train went across the continent Ia
1876 In eighty-four hours 1t was reported
that the passengers allghted ''completely
jagged out" All will agree that many
trains, both regular and special, are now
run too fast for the comfort Of passengers.
A solid train OF half dozen thirty I've tou
a1n xrtt NJ i,,Ig a1A Il,
winter, on first class track, running at
uniform speed, can be run sixty miles an
hour or faster, without suspicion OF the
high speed on the part of most of the
passengers, but there are comparatively
few roads that can do this, and those which
can, do not feel as though they could afford
a great: deal of it. Those who at
tempt to initiate this method with
light cars, stiti springs, uSeyen
road, and open windows find the expert
ment more or less trying to peoples nerves,
A train which from any cause makes Il
racket that constantly intrudes itself upon
passengers ears cannot be called really
pleasant to ride upon. Every one recog-
nizes the difference between au open-win-
dowed local train In dusty season and
the comparative quiet OF heavy sleeper In
winter when snow is several inches above
the rail; and even on rock ballastel track
the reverberations from every object passed
are often unpleasant. Most people desire
quiet as much in day car as at night,
To secure absence OF jar is not an easy task,
and certainly cannot be successfully done
at high speeds without heavy cars so that
increase or decrease OF load shall not serl-
ously affect the operation OF the springs;
and noise cannot be satisfactorily excluded
in summer at least, without such yentilat-
ing arrangements as will admit Of having
most Of the windows closed.